Dang Van Lam is ready to return to the national team; MU's winning streak is broken

Dang Van Lam is ready to return to the national team

Dang Van Lam unfortunately suffered an injury in the match where Binh Dinh lost to SLNA in round 9. It is worth mentioning that he only played for 37 minutes after a long break due to an injury he suffered in the V-League. Two consecutive injuries to the Vietnamese-American goalkeeper in 2 months made fans worried.

According to the medical examination results, Van Lam was fortunate to not have any ligament damage and could recover soon. To avoid the risk of injury recurrence, the coaching staff of Binh Dinh Club has given him the opportunity to rest and is expected to return to the starting lineup from round 11 when the home team visits Ho Chi Minh City Club on February 28.

V-League will play 3 more rounds before closing the first leg and giving way to the Vietnam national team's training session to prepare for the next 2 matches of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers against Indonesia on March 21 and March 26. Therefore, the next 3 rounds will be an important time for Dang Van Lam to regain his form and a place in the national team's training list. Previously, the 31-year-old goalkeeper was the number 1 choice of both former coach Park Hang-seo and current coach Philippe Troussier in the national team's goal.

In the recent Asian Cup campaign, Van Lam was forced to withdraw at the last minute due to injury, indirectly giving the opportunity to another Vietnamese-American goalkeeper, Nguyen Filip - who had an impressive debut in the national team. The return of Van Lam promises to create an interesting competition with Nguyen Filip for the main goalkeeper position in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers and the AFF Cup at the end of the year. The final decision depends on head coach Philippe Troussier.

89 athletes and coaches enjoy special nutrition before the 2024 Paris Olympics qualifiers

According to information from the Department of Physical Training and Sports, in order to create the best conditions for top athletes, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has just issued Decision No. 322/QD-BVHTTDL on implementing a special nutritional regimen for coaches and athletes of national sports teams to prepare for the qualifying round of the 2024 Paris Olympics.

This decision is based on Article 3, Circular 86/2020/TT-BTC dated October 26, 2020 of the Ministry of Finance, detailing the specific nutritional regime for coaches and high-performance athletes.

Accordingly, 89 members, including 63 athletes from the teams including: swimming, athletics, badminton, cycling, shooting, archery, table tennis, boxing, taekwondo, judo, weightlifting, canoeing, rowing and gymnastics will enjoy a special nutritional regime of 640,000 VND/person/day while training at the National Sports Training Centers and Bac Ninh University of Physical Education and Sports from February 1, 2024 and 2 athletes Mai Hoang My Trang and Nguyen Khoa Dieu Khanh will enjoy this regime from February 22, 2024 (because the athletes previously trained locally in Ho Chi Minh City and were officially called up to the National team from February 22) until the completion of the 2024 Paris Olympic qualifying round. This regime is double the normal regime of 320,000 VND/person/day.

This is a key group of athletes being invested in towards the 2024 Paris Olympics. Up to now, Vietnamese sports have had 4 athletes winning tickets to the Olympics, including: Nguyen Huy Hoang (swimming), Nguyen Thi That (cycling), Trinh Thu Vinh, Le Thi Mong Tuyen (shooting). The remaining athletes are working hard to train and compete from now until June to seek a place to attend the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Vietnam sports aims to win 12 to 15 places to attend the Paris Olympics. In addition to the 4 official places, Vietnam sports are placing their hopes on players such as: Nguyen Thuy Linh (badminton), Trinh Van Vinh (weightlifting), Nguyen Van Khanh Phong (gymnastics), Truong Thi Kim Tuyen (taekwondo), Pham Quang Huy (shooting), Nguyen Thi Tam (boxing)...

MU's winning streak ended

On the night of February 24, MU lost 1-2 to Fulham at home at Old Trafford in round 26 of the English Premier League.

In the 65th minute, a chaotic situation occurred in front of Man Utd's goal. Calvin Bassey seized the opportunity to shoot the ball into the roof of Andre Onana's net from close range.

Although Maguire equalized in the 89th minute, MU still collapsed when the match entered the 90+7 minute. Adama Traore broke through bravely, before passing to Alex Iwobi to finish hard into the near corner, sealing a 2-1 victory for Fulham.

MU's 5-match winning streak ended. The first home defeat to Fulham since 2003 left coach Erik ten Hag's team far behind in the race for the top 4.

The "Red Devils" are still in 6th place with 44 points. In the same match, Aston Villa defeated Nottingham to widen the gap with MU to 8 points.

Harry Kane rescues Bayern in the 90+1 minute

In the early morning of February 25, Kane scored 2 goals to help Bayern defeat Leipzig 2-1 in round 23 of the Bundesliga.

In the 90+1 minute, when the score was 1-1, Choupo-Moting received a long pass from his teammate on the left wing, before trying to pass the ball inside to Harry Kane. The former Tottenham striker volleyed with his left foot, sealing a thrilling victory for Bayern.

Before that, Harry Kane opened the scoring for the Bundesliga champions, also with a left-footed shot in the 56th minute. All Leipzig could do was equalize in the 70th minute thanks to Benjamin Sesko. Sesko's shot in the penalty area hit Leon Goretzka's foot and changed direction, going into the net.

Harry Kane continues his impressive form with 27 goals in just 23 Bundesliga appearances, 17 of which were scored at home at the Allianz Arena. Kane has equalled his own home scoring record from the 2016/17 season (17 goals for Spurs). In addition, the striker born in 1993 also contributed 5 assists. In all competitions, Kane has contributed to 44 goals in 37 matches (35 goals, 9 assists).

A hard-fought victory over Leipzig has given Bayern a slim chance of retaining their Bundesliga title. The Bavarian club is now eight points behind Leverkusen with 11 games left to play.

Spend a lot of money to buy tickets to see Messi play

A fan spent 790,000 USD (19 billion VND) to buy a ticket to watch Messi and his Inter Miami teammates play against LA Galaxy in the second round of the US Major League Soccer (MLS) on February 26.

According to the Daily Mail (UK), this is the most expensive ticket price in football history. “$790,000/ticket is unprecedented for a football match. This shows the unprecedented heat of Messi and his influence on the tournament. Statistics show that 6/10 of the most expensive individual tickets in the 2024 MLS season also come at matches with Inter Miami. Previously, a fan spent nearly $44,000 (more than 1 billion VND) to buy a ticket to watch Inter Miami play away at New England Revolution Stadium” - Daily Mail said.

The away match at LA Galaxy is the second match of the season for Messi and his teammates. It is even more interesting because LA Galaxy is the team that famous player David Beckham used to play for (he is currently the president and co-owner of Inter Miami). In addition to Messi, teammate Luis Suarez is also the name that attracts attention in this match. According to coach Tata Martino, both of these famous players are in the Inter Miami squad to play away against LA Galaxy./.